They pay you to make music... WHATTTTT?!

December 8, 2011

Yeah, it's pretty sweet right? The music department here offers a variety of scholarships such as the music department scholarship, glee club scholarship, English award, and so on. One in particular is open for first years to try out for: Howard Swan Award. With this scholarship they subsidize an hour lessons each week as well as a $1000 scholarship award. Howard Swan is also one of the most respected choral directors in history, so it is very prestigious to get an award in his name. How music scholarships work: The only award open to first years is the Howard Swan Award. You apply for that over the summer before arriving to campus. If you are called back, you have your call back on campus with the director who then chooses the recipient. If you come to Oxy without receiving a music award, you can audition for one the following year if you are involved in the music department. Students with music scholarships are generally subsidized for half hour lessons or hour long lessons. What are the additional commitments to the scholarships? You must be a part of a musical ensemble on campus. You must sing in one of the biweekly Friday afternoon concerts each semester. Finally, you are evaluated on your progress at the end of every semester in a jury. I actually literally JUST finished my jury for this semester. As a singer on scholarship, I have had to do many juries. It sounds intimidating, but it is simply an evaluation of progress. You sing in front of 3 faculty members and they give feed back. It definitely is worth the reward, so audition for these scholarships! You get to know the faculty very well and performing with other musicians is a therapeutic experience. There is so much the music department at Oxy has to offer. If you have any more questions on it, feel free to email me at tchang@oxy.edu!